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Nintendo: 30,000 illegal pirate devices seized so far in '08

Nintendo has told GamesIndustry.biz that it has so far this year seized almost 30,000 piracy devices which infringe company copyright.

The numbers come following Nintendo Japan's lawsuit, which with the help of 54 other publishers, aims to tackle the growing threat of DS piracy devices such as the R4 cartridge.

"Nintendo takes a global approach to piracy and has pursued the illegal game copying devices in 11 countries this past year," said the company in a statement.

"Nintendo has worked with enforcement officials in Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Korea, Netherlands, Spain, UK, and the US, seizing close to 30,000 infringing game copying products, as well as taking actions against those distributors and manufacturers."

The notorious R4 chip is available to buy over the internet, and allows hacked code to be transferred easily onto the Nintendo DS and played via a cartridge and memory card.

"Nintendo and software manufacturers are suffering tremendous loss caused by the import and distribution of such devices," said the firm.

"Nintendo and software manufacturers have determined that the spread of such devices in the market would hinder sound growth and development of the entire computer game industry and will therefore continue to take strict legal measures against any game copying devices that operate like the R4."